Sonn faces tough challenge for UCB presidency

With the race for the United Cricket Board presidency between Percy Sonn, the incumbent, and Dr Mtutuzeli Nyoka hotting up prior to Saturday's annual general meeting, a respected cricket administrator has let it be known that the current hostility toward Sonn is not Nyoka's alone.

"There's been negative feeling toward Sonn within certain circles for some time," says the seasoned observer. "He's not well respected overseas. He's playing prosecutor and jury as far as the Nyoka challenge is concerned and I think that to cast aspersions about the Doctor and threatening to have him investigated by the Scorpions 1/8special investigative team 3/8 is complete nonsense."

The battle for the UCB presidency hit the back pages on Sunday when a newspaper reported that Dr Nyoka, a Gauteng ear, nose and throat specialist who recently became chairperson of Gauteng cricket, said that Sonn had accused him of corruption - an allegation which Sonn denied.

When the observer was asked if Nyoka's challenge for the presidency was merely a symbolic flexing of muscle or whether it was in earnest, he replied: "No, I think this is very serious."

Sonn's diminishing power base might also have something to do with his handling of the Hansie Cronje affair.

It is felt within certain sections of the cricket community that Sonn has not applied his mind sufficiently to the issue of Cronje's banning, and that the exact nature and terms of the ban should have been worked out beforehand.

Despite a growing unpopularity in certain sections of the cricket fraternity, it is felt, nonetheless, that Sonn will cling to the presidency, if only because continuity is vital in these Cronje-scarred times.

The World Cup is only eighteen months away and having a third president in as many years - Sonn's predecessor was Ray White - would be catastrophic for a union as it struggles to finally emerge from the Cronje-inspired darkness.

As the respective parties gear up for Saturday's shoot-out, there have been reports that Gerald Majola, the UCB CEO, is intent on brokering a peace between the two parties, but whether this isn't a case of too little too late remains to be seen. - Sapa